Conan to film in Burbank

O’Brien’s new late-night show on TBS will be housed on the Warner Bros. lot.

May 17, 2010|By Zain Shauk

The arrival of Conan O’Brien’s new late-night show at Warner Bros. studios in Burbank will bring a surge of jobs and economic activity to the area, industry observers said.

The show, which is set to air four nights a week on TBS starting in November, will add to other late-night programs filmed in Burbank, including “The Jay Leno Show” on NBC and “Lopez Tonight,” which will run after O’Brien’s show on TBS.

O’Brien will shoot his nightly show at Studio 15 on the Warner Bros. lot, according to the Burbank-based media giant.

Warner Bros. and TBS are owned by Time Warner Inc.

“I can’t wait to interview the cast of ‘Jersey Shore’ on the same lot where they filmed ‘Casablanca,’” O’Brien said in a statement.

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The show will bring another big television name to Burbank in a format that will provide full-time jobs to scores of entertainment industry workers, said Gavin Koon, an entertainment industry representative for the Verdugo Workforce Investment Board, which provides training for unemployed workers in Glendale and Burbank.

Many jobs associated with the show might not last year-round, but will come from entertainment industry firms and independent contractors in Glendale and Burbank who might provide rentals or temporary production work, Koon said.

“There’s no question there’s hundreds of jobs involved,” he said.

While some workers will be a part of O’Brien’s former New York staff as part of his NBC show “Late Night with Conan O’Brien,” many will be local, and those who move will likely become California residents who contribute to local economies, Koon said.

Beyond the new jobs associated with working directly on the show, there will be peripheral job growth at associated gift shops, limousine services for guests and at restaurants and stores surrounding the Burbank lot, said Jack Kyser, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.

“There’s just all kinds of things with a show like this,” Kyser said of the economic impact locally.

Aside from the economic benefits, the addition of another late-night star will also help to boost the profile of the area, said Don Nakamoto, labor market specialist for the Verdugo Workforce Investment Board.

“They could have chosen to go elsewhere, and so to continue to stay in the area is a really positive thing,” Nakamoto said.